Entries in Lucas Hedges
(20)

This is our fourth year of highlighting that unpredictable spark between actors that can elevate a movie whether the movie is able to catch up or not (see previously installments for '15, '16 and '17, if you're so inclined). If only we could bottle these formulas but the thing about great chemistry is that it can't ever be fully recreated even if old movies during the studio system teach us that the same pairing can at least generate similar energy again. Why Hollywood doesn't still try to repackage successful combos of actors (rather than just all the brand do-overs) remains an unsolved mystery

Herewith the most beautifully realized relationship energy of the year...

18 [TIE] Ben Foster & Thomasin McKenzie, Leave No TraceAND Josh Hamilton & Elsie Fisher, Eighth Grade (Single Father/Teenage Daughter)There's a lot to recommend in both films, two sleeper arthouse successes this year, but neither film would have the same emotional resonance without that authenticity of feeling in the central duet. Marvel at the way Hamilton looks at or speaks to Fisher, for example, perpetually impatient to be let in on her interior life, but also nervous about intruding on her journey and walling her off yet further. Equally impressive is the difficult balancing act McKenzie plays as both dutiful daughter and emotional caretaker for her troubled father, as she grows ever more restless to escape him without losing him. What a quartet of performances...

Index (61 minutes)00:01 SAG nomination leftover feelings05:00 None of us liked Vice and the reviews are mixed. We still think it's an awards contender so we discuss the question of latebreakers in each awards season. 11:45 Randomness: Ethan Hawke, Bohemian Rhapsody, and the Florida Film Critics Circle20:40 Ben is Back starring Lucas Hedges (with sidebars of Boy Erased and Beautiful Boy)33:40 If Beale Street Could Talk45:00 Reader Q: A fine element of a buzzy movie that's not being talked up49:17 Reader Q: Is Best Actress actually set already?51:00 Reader Q: If there wasn't Category Fraud this year what would be happening in Supporting Actress?53:30 Reader Q: Reassign an Oscar win - what's the cascading effect?59:40 Wrap up

Please welcome guest columnist Eurocheese, who you probably know from the comments section. We realized we hadn't reviewed Boy Erased in full and he wanted to share his own story and how the film affected him. Here's Eurocheese... - Editor

Fifteen years ago, I came out to my conservative religious parents as a gay man. One of their first suggestions was that I voluntarily send myself to a gay conversion camp. Fortunately, I had accepted myself by that time and refused to go. What would have happened if I had been outed sooner, or if I still thought I could somehow change? I have seen several films addressing these so-called conversion camps, but never one that felt more in line with my personal story than Boy Erased...

In writer-director Peter Hedges’ new film Ben is Back, Julia Roberts and Lucas Hedges perform a heart-rending duet. They’re so locked into their characters, with their lived-in emotions so close to the skin, that they make the film soar.

Young Ben (Hedges) returns home for Christmas, 77 days clean from sober living from his drug addiction, to the joy and hope of his mom (Roberts), and the skepticism of his family. While the plot is straightforward, Peter Hedges takes the peace out of the domestic setting in the second half of the film, where he has his two main characters on the road facing various elements from Ben’s past...

The Hedges were out in force in NYC last night for a special screening of Ben Is Back starring Lucas Hedges and written and directed by his dad Peter Hedges (Pieces of April, Dan in Real Life). The movie opens in limited release on December 7th. [More pics of the event at Just Jared]

(Woof at Lucas's older brother. Pity he's not an actor! But he is in the industry: he's an assistant director, recently worked on the great Jewish lesbian drama Disobedience and currently working on the new Les Misérables miniseries)

Index (65 minutes)00:01 Bryan Singer's Bohemian Rhapsody, homophobic storytelling, and cat reaction shots10:25 Rami Malek as Freddie Mercury, the limits and strengths of the performance14:08 The Best Actor race: Bradley, Ethan, Viggo, Willem, and Rami? Plus floundering campaigns for First Man and The Front Runner and the default possibilities of Vice? 35:00 Lucas Hedges in both Ben is Back and Boy Erased37:30 Boy Erased in general, Nicole & Russell's fine parental performances, and a bit of The Miseducation of Cameron Post on the side 50:30 Recent DVDs: Mamma Mia 2, Leave No Trace, Skate Kitchen, and Sorry to Bother You55:55 Return trips to both A Star is Born andBlacKkKlansman01:02:00 Can You Ever Forgive Me? afterglow and Wildlife fade?

The vernacular definition of the word "teaser" keeps expanding. Now it basically means "first trailer" and they're usually two minutes in length. But here's an ACTUAL teaser "teaser," like what the word used to mean for movie marketing. Julia Roberts and Lucas Hedges star in Ben is Back.